Their research will put human experience at their heart, with applications across personalised care, predicting the impact of climate change and diagnosing cancer.
The fellowships are designed to retain, attract and develop the best and brightest AI researchers.
The scheme allows them to undertake world-leading, innovative AI research in collaboration with partners from other sectors to accelerate its impact.
The fellows
The three new fellows are supported through a £15 million investment from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Professor Subramanian Ramamoorthy at the University of Edinburgh aims to create assistive autonomous systems that are person-centred and teachable at the individual user level. Potential uses are robots that can help with activities such as:
- personal care
- autonomous surgery
- automated driving
Professor Stefanos Zafeiriou at Imperial College London aims to give the smart assistants we are already coming to rely on the ability to understand and work with any kind of data, no matter how complex. Applications include:
- creating normative data for parts of the body to help doctors to plan surgeries or diagnose cancer
- predicting the changing climate
Professor Steve Benford at the University of Nottingham aims to help AI to better enable us humans to make meaning of the world, of ourselves, and AI itself by combining art and the body. Through artistic collaborations he will explore how AI systems could handle ambiguous demand interpretation and embrace failure as a source of improvisation.
Supporting bold thinking
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Peter Kyle said:
This programme highlights the very best of British innovation as we back new research in areas which will deliver truly transformative innovations for people not just in the UK, but across the globe.
Whether that’s new avenues for tackling climate change, improving how we diagnose horrendous diseases like cancer, or rolling out cutting edge tools in our hospitals to support our healthcare professionals, we’re leaving no stone unturned in harnessing AI to improve our health, modernise our public services, and face down some of society’s biggest shared challenges.
The Turing AI fellowship programme is delivered by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) on behalf of UKRI in partnership with The Alan Turing Institute and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
EPSRC Executive Chair Professor Charlotte Deane said:
To ensure that we capitalise on the enormous potential of AI and also ensure that it serves the needs of society we need to support bold thinking.
That is what the UKRI Turing AI World-Leading Researcher Fellowships are all about, allowing adventurous thinkers from the UK and across the world to thrive and develop ideas that will benefit us all.
Previously-awarded fellows
The three new fellows are the latest leading AI researchers to be supported through the Turing AI World-Leading Researcher Fellowships initiative.
Previously-awarded fellows include:
- Professor Michael Wooldridge, who delivered the 2023 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, bringing AI to a wide general audience
- Professor Mirella Lapata at the University of Edinburgh, who has established the Generative AI Laboratory to ensure that generative AI benefits society and stimulates economic growth
- Professor Philip Torr from the University of Oxford, who contributed to the United Nations‘ consultation on the interim report Governing AI for Humanity, which calls for a closer alignment between international norms and how AI is developed and rolled out
- Professor Samuel Kaski at The University of Manchester, who has established a new tandem AI centre of excellence, the Centre for AI Fundamentals, as well as AI-FUN and ELLIS Unit Manchester.
Further information
Full summaries for the new fellows
Professor Subramanian Ramamoorthy at the University of Edinburgh
Professor Ramamoorthy aims to create assistive autonomous systems that are person-centred and teachable at the individual user level. Potential uses including the creation of robots that can help people with activities of daily living, such as:
- feeding or personal care
- teaching robots to perform surgical tasks autonomously and coordinate effectively with human experts
- improving driver assistance and automated driving features in next generation cars, for example in modelling the interaction between vulnerable road users and cars, or in navigating in heavy traffic and tight spaces
Professor Stefanos Zafeiriou at Imperial College London
Professor Zafeiriou aims to give the smart assistants we are already coming to rely on the ability to understand and work with any kind of data, no matter how complex. Applications include:
- the creation of normative data for parts of the human body
- helping doctors to plan surgeries, diagnose cancer and design better prosthetics and wearable devices
- improve brain-computer interfaces by creating new methods to decipher brain signals effectively and efficiently
- revolutionise the way we design certain proteins such as antibodies
- develop methods for accurate predictions of climate variables, using the results to inform policies to tackle sustainability issues
Professor Steve Benford at the University of Nottingham
Professor Benford aims to enhance AI to better enable humans to make meaning. His approach explores how people make meaning through art and embodied experience, partnering with award-winning artists to create a series of robotic artworks, from robots that embrace and groom humans, to ones that dance and play music with them.
By investigating these systems using an artistic lens he aims to create AI that embraces ambiguity, evokes interpretation, and embraces improvisation. The touring artworks supported through the fellowship will inspire the creative industries with new forms of cultural experience, while engaging the public to reflect on the future role of AI in society, especially on how it might become more inclusive.
Top image: Credit: Sharamand, iStock, Getty Images Plus via Getty Images